How stretching your spine helps reduce pain

If you live in a city/town with a Chinese population, have you ever gone early into the park and see a bunch of elderly Chinese men and women doing something like this? 

I grew up in Taiwan, and I've watched my grandma and grandpa do this growing up. I'd follow along what they do every morning, thinking it was all fun and games.

But of course, grandparents always know something we don't.

Why does it always feel better when you've stretched out the sides of your body? It might be because you feel taller, that you can breathe better, that you feel more spacious inside, or that you feel blood circulating and more clear-headed.

While all of these are all wonderful effects of these seemingly simple and silly stretches, there’s more to them than the eyes see and the body feels superficially.

Move your torso to move your pain out

These simple acts of spinal stretching not only help keep the spine limber (which, by the way, is very important as one ages), but research shows that it also helps regulate the adrenal cortex (read, manages your energy). This energy management is super important for chronic pain because a sense of depletion and exhaustion can affect mood, mood can affect stress, stress can affect pain.

Check out the 15-min simple practice above that explores all the motions of the spine to help you regulate your energy and reduce pain!

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